Snuff is powdered tobacco, usually blended with aromatic herbs or spices. The habit of snuff-taking spread to China from the West during the 17th century and became established in the 18th century. People generally carried snuff in a small bottle. By the 20th century these bottles had become collectors' items, owing to the great variety of materials and decorative techniques used in their production.
Physical description
The bottle is a cylindrical form with a wide flat neck-rim and no stopper.
It is made of porcelain, painted in red, purple, blue, green, yellow and brown.
The decoration depicts a woman playing with children.
The receding foot is unglazed, with a high glazed indentation underneath; four-character Yongzheng (1723-35) mark in red regular script.
The wide flat neck was probably designed to house a snuff stopper.
Place of Origin
China (made)
Date
1850-1900 (made)
Artist/maker
Unknown
Materials and Techniques
Porcelain with painted decoration
Dimensions
Height: 8.1 cm
Descriptive line
Chinese snuff bottle; 1850-1900, Qing Dynasty; porcelain, with painted decoration depicting a woman playing with children.
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
White, Helen. Snuff Bottles from China. London: Bamboo Publishing Ltd in association with the Victoria and Albert Museum, 1992. 291p., ill. ISBN 1870076109.
Production Note
The original register entry describes this bottle as nineteenth-century.
Materials
Porcelain
Techniques
Painting (image-making); Glazing (coating)
Subjects depicted
Children (people by age group); Women
Categories
ELISE; Containers; Personal accessories; Ceramics
Collection
East Asia Collection